Deathlok and the Cosmic Cube

Captain America #288 (Marvel, December 1983, 60 cents)
"Mazes" Scripter: J.M. DeMatteis, Penciler: Mike Zeck, Inker: John Beatty, Colorist: Bob Sharen, Letterer: Diana Albers, Editor: Mark Gruenwald, and Editor in Chief: Jim Shooter.

Captain America is a decade in the future, following his guide Godwulf with the cyborg Deathlok through the streets of New York City circa 1993. They witness the aftermath of a corporate takeover of the United States by Roxxon Oil and the Brand Corporation, its clandestine group the Nth Command sending the country's superheroes into "hostile realities" to kill them, ridding the world of heroes.

Some pockets of humanity found safety from the warring factions and the madman Hellinger. Godwulf leads the two to a group of his friends, including Sage, Swashbuckler, Gentle Sam, Big Man, and Iron Butterfly, who carries a guitar strapped to her back.



Hellinger is in fact Harlan Ryker, a Brand researcher who focused on bionics and cybernetics, creating Deathlok out of Luther Manning. Godwulf's friends and other survivors rally around Deathlok and Captain America to take the fight to Hellinger, now a cyborg himself.

They arrive at his headquarters in upstate New York and gain entrance to his fortress, where they encounter an automated, ever-changing maze. Only Captain America and Deathlok make it through the labyrinth to face Hellinger.

DeMatteis's script is exposition heavy, which is necessary to situate the issue. While I haven't read the other comics in this storyline, there's a lot of potential here, and the idea reminds me of the "Days of Future Past" storyline in The Uncanny X-Men. Zeck's artwork is strong, and the large panel featuring Hellinger on page 19 is excellent. It'd be worth seeing where this storyline started -- and what repercussions it'll have on life back in 1983, especially given Scarlet's hypnotic kiss with Nomad.



The issue also includes ads for ABC and NBC's Saturday morning cartoon lineups, Victory Games's James Bond role-playing game, TSR's Star Frontiers, and a letter column featuring four letters of comment.

Read Also: Marvel Spotlight #33 and Marvel Two-in-One #27.

Availability: This issue is collected in Marvel Masterworks: Deathlok Vol. 1 and Deathlok the Demolisher: The Complete Collection.